Angela Nogarola, (16 October 1351, birthdate of Giangaleazzo Visconti, to whom Nogarola addressed welcoming verses)
In her study of women Latin poets, British historian Jane Stevenson notes that the "patrician Venetian family of the Nogarolas . . . produced women scholars over several generations."
The most notable--and widely recognized--of these scholars is the humanist Isotta Nogarola, about whom I have written in an earlier post.
The most notable--and widely recognized--of these scholars is the humanist Isotta Nogarola, about whom I have written in an earlier post.
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A 1497 woodcut, showing Angela Nogarola at her desk |
But there were at least two women in the Nogarola family who preceded Isotta as poets writing in Latin. The first, Antonia Nogarola, is, according to Stevenson, a "shadowy" figure. Born in 1308, she is known to have studied Greek and Latin and said to have written both prose and verse--and although she also was recognized for her writing (Stevenson notes that Antonia gained a certain amount of "fame" for her work), nothing of it is known to remain.
A second woman writer in the Nogarola family, Angela, has left a body of work that survives. Still, she remains, as classics scholar Holt N. Parker has written, "obscure," much less known than Isotta.* Isotta Nogarola was Angela's niece, the daughter of Angela's brother, Leonardo, and his wife, Bianca Borromeo.
A second woman writer in the Nogarola family, Angela, has left a body of work that survives. Still, she remains, as classics scholar Holt N. Parker has written, "obscure," much less known than Isotta.* Isotta Nogarola was Angela's niece, the daughter of Angela's brother, Leonardo, and his wife, Bianca Borromeo.
Born in Verona, Angela (or Agnola) Nogarola was the daughter of Antonio Nogarola and Bartolomea de Castronovo. The year of her birth is unknown--sources vary wildly, from 1360 to 1380. Given the uncertainties, the University of Chicago's database, Italian Women Writers, goes with a "?"--probably the safest bet. Unlike her niece, who never married, cultivating her reputation as "virgin-scholar," Angela Nogarola married Antonio II, count of Arco, in 1396.
And Agnola Nogarola is notable among her female contemporaries who did gain a reputation for their scholarship for having continued to write after her marriage. (Stephenson describes the lives of Isotta Nogarola and her sister, Ginevra, for example, as "quasi-monastic.")
And Agnola Nogarola is notable among her female contemporaries who did gain a reputation for their scholarship for having continued to write after her marriage. (Stephenson describes the lives of Isotta Nogarola and her sister, Ginevra, for example, as "quasi-monastic.")
One of the works that seems to pre-date Nogarola's marriage is a verse letter, in hexameters, to the humanist scholar Antonio Loschi, the poem suggesting that Loschi may have been her tutor. A second work, which also is likely to have been written before Nogarola's marriage, is addressed to Pandolfo III Malatesta. This is also in the form of a letter, this one asking for the return of a book she had lent him. The poem is a cento or, rather, a variation on the cento format. A cento is a poem composed entirely of lines or half-lines taken from a source (often Homer or Virgil). As such, it is a way of demonstrating the breadth and depth of the writer's knowledge. Nogarola's poem is a less-common variation on the form, alternating quoted lines with rhyming lines of her own. In his response to her, Malatesta addresses Nogarola as both puella (girl) and virgo, suggesting that her poem and his response were written before her marriage.
Also from the period before her marriage is an address to Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the ruler of Milan, welcoming him to the city he had just captured: "Poor Vicenza entrusts to you her citizens / Shaken by innumerable evils, and as a suppliant, she prays, / Alas, have pity on a people poor and over-burdened." Because the poem welcomes Visconti to the city he has subdued, this poem can be dated to 1387.
Angela Nogarola composed a similar work in 1404, after her marriage in 1396. In this later poem, Nogarola welcomes Jacopo da Carrara, who had seized control of Verona from Malatesta. In Parker's assessment, this poem shows Angela, in her role as countess of Arco, "as a visible presence in the highest levels of political games-playing."
Angela Nogarola composed a similar work in 1404, after her marriage in 1396. In this later poem, Nogarola welcomes Jacopo da Carrara, who had seized control of Verona from Malatesta. In Parker's assessment, this poem shows Angela, in her role as countess of Arco, "as a visible presence in the highest levels of political games-playing."
The longest work attributed to Angela Nogarola, Liber de Virtutibus (The Book of Virtues), is an elegiac poem of 342 lines exploring classical virtues. Although the scholar Virginia Cox calls this work "ambitious in scope," she also notes that it is "awkwardly realized." For her part, Stephenson notes that this is "an ambitious Latin work of considerable length," which is not necessarily great praise. In his just-published essay on Angela Nogarola, however, Alex E. Tadel argues that The Book of Virtues, which demonstrates a "poor command of Latin," is not by Angela Nogarola--he claims that it "predates" her and has been "incorrectly attributed to her." Angela Nogarola, he notes, is a "skilled Latin writer," one who is "capable of producing learned, allusive[,] classicizing verse."
In his 2026 essay, Tadel focuses on a previously unpublished eclogue by Nogarola, a Latin poem in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds. In this poem, she "assumes a male persona in a rare reversal of the vast corpus of literature by men written in the female voice." Tadel's essay, just published in An Anthology of Neo-Latin Literature Written by Women, is followed by the complete text in Latin and Tadel's English translation. In the surviving manuscript, the poem headed "A very elegant eclogue by the divine lady Angela Nogarola for the magnificent Francesco Barbavara, who had at the time been robbed of the affection of the Duke of Milan."
In his 2026 essay, Tadel focuses on a previously unpublished eclogue by Nogarola, a Latin poem in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds. In this poem, she "assumes a male persona in a rare reversal of the vast corpus of literature by men written in the female voice." Tadel's essay, just published in An Anthology of Neo-Latin Literature Written by Women, is followed by the complete text in Latin and Tadel's English translation. In the surviving manuscript, the poem headed "A very elegant eclogue by the divine lady Angela Nogarola for the magnificent Francesco Barbavara, who had at the time been robbed of the affection of the Duke of Milan."
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A woodcut depicting Angela Nogarola |
For a nineteenth-century edition of the work of Isotta Nogarola, with the extant work of her aunt Angela Nogarola and her sister Ginevra Nogarola, click here (volume 1) and here (volume 2). Angela Nogarola's work appears in volume 2--it is in Latin, but don't let that discourage you. It's worth taking a look just to see the extent of her extant work.
*More than a decade after his essay on Angela and Isotta Nogarola was published (in Women Writing Latin: From Roman Antiquity to Early Modern Europe, vol. 3), Parker was arrested for having received and distributed child pornography and suspended from his academic position. He plead guilty and sentenced in 2016. So I was very interested in Marguerite Johnson's essay, "Should Academics Cite Those Who Have Breached Moral and Humane Borders?" (click here). Johnson suggests that citing the scholar might "run the risk of being perceived as validating not only the research, but the researcher"--I hope not! Parker's work on Angela, in particular, offers invaluable analysis, but I in no way support child pornography!
